Hasidic Village of Kiryas Joel Agrees To End Gender Segregation at Park
Image by wikipedia
Kiryas Joel in upstate New York agreed to halt gender segregation at a public park in the Hasidic village.
The decision announced Monday by Kiryas Joel, which is populated by Satmar Hasidim, settles a lawsuit filed in December by civil liberties groups, according to the Courthouse News Service. The agreement was reached on March 25.
The Kinder Park was opened in April 2012. The 283-acre park includes blue-painted playground equipment and pink-painted playground equipment located in separate areas. The park’s rules, including gender separation, were listed in Hebrew on signs.
The park was built using “special financing” obtained by the village’s mayor, the Gothamist reported.
Under the agreement, civil liberties monitors will visit the park twice a year for the next three years to ensure there is no gender segregation there.
“Public parks cannot segregate on the basis of sex any more than they can for race or national origin,” New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement. “This agreement ensures that all park visitors have equal access to the entire park.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
